September direct tax mop-up climbs 26.12%

Stands at Rs 81,647 crore; fastest monthly growth this year

Direct tax collections in September increased 26.12 per cent to Rs 81,647 crore, against Rs 64,737 crore in the corresponding month last year. This is the fastest growth in a month since the beginning of this financial year.

The growth came on account of the second instalment of tax paid by corporate taxpayers and first instalment of advance income tax paid by non-corporate taxpayers. Normally, tax collections are always below Rs 20,000 crore in a single month, except four months – June, September, December and March – when the instalment for the quarter is due.

Direct tax mop-up in the first half of this financial year increased 19.09 per cent to Rs 1,81,758 crore, against Rs 1,52,625 crore in the corresponding period of 2009-10. The mop-up in the first six months was 42.27 per cent of the Budgeted direct tax collection target of Rs 4,30,000 crore in 2010-11, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said in a media statement released on Tuesday.

Corporate income tax collections recorded a growth of 21.74 per cent to touch Rs 1,22,433 crore, against Rs 1,00,572 crore collected in the same period last year. Personal income tax collections, including securities transaction tax, residual fringe benefit tax and banking cash transaction tax, increased 13.79 per cent to Rs 59,053 crore, against Rs 51,897 crore in the same period a year ago.

The revenue department saw a growth of 18.47 per cent in wealth tax collections, at Rs 263 crore, in April-September this financial year. This is in comparison with the Rs 222 crore collected in the first six months last financial year. Securities transaction tax collections fell 10.38 per cent to Rs 2,874 crore, against Rs 3,207 crore in the April-September period last year.

Direct tax collections for 2009-10 stood at Rs 3,78,000 crore. This was lower than the revised estimate of Rs 3,87,000 crore. The government has budgeted an overall tax mop-up of Rs 7,46,000 crore in the current financial year. Indirect tax collections increased 44.4 per cent to Rs 1,50,686 crore in the first six months of the financial year. The total indirect tax collections during April-September 2010-11 were 48.1 per cent of the Budget estimates for 2010-11.